We support women writers living and working in the East of England * Winner of Outstanding Contribution to The Arts Award 2018; Shortlisted for the Women In Publishing New Venture Award 2015 & 2016, for Saboteur Best One-Off Event 2015 and Best Anthology 2014 *

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Wednesday, 15 April 2015

Please come along to
Project U, organised by Unthank Books, and hear readings by some of the writers
included in Words And Women:Two. The
event is on Thursday 23rd April and starts at 7.30pm in the Old Library in the centre of Norwich. It is free,
and includes thelaunch of a new
title by Unthank: – Meridian by David Rose.

The writers reading at
the event are:

Lilie Ferrari who was co-creator and
writer for the long running medical drama series The Clinic for RTE, and has written episodes of Peak Practice (Carlton), Dangerfield (BBC),Casualty (BBC), Berkeley
Square (BBC), Holby (BBC) and
numerous episodes of EastEnders
(BBC). She co-created storylines for 60 episodes of the returning series of Crossroads, winning the ITV commission
for Carlton Productions. She has also storylined for Family Affairs (Channel 5), and Playing
the Field for Tiger Aspect/BBC.Lilie has worked as a soap consultant in Finland and France as well as
advising on a proposed new soap opera for Saudi Arabia.She has also had four novels published, and is currently working
on her fifth.

Hannah
Garrard who is currently studying for an MA in biography and creative
non-fiction at the UEA, where she also took her undergraduate degree in English
Literature in 2005. She has worked as a teacher in East Asia and West Africa,
but Norwich is a place she always seems to come back to. Her writing has
appeared in the Guardian, New Internationalist and Going Down Swinging.

Holly J. McDedewhoclaims to be a 10th
generation King's Lynn resident in order to fit in, but really, she moved to
Norwich almost three years ago from California for secret reasons. She runs a
radio show called the Norfolk
Storytelling Project, where she explores hot topics such as

new zebra
crossings, English banana farming, and new public toilet facilities in
Hailsham.

Bethany
Settle who has an MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) from the
University of East Anglia. She remained in Norwich, where she works at a
library. Recently her work has appeared in Words
and Women: One and Extending Leylines.
She is writer-in-residence at the Rumsey Wells pub in Norwich.

Avani Shah who was born in London and
now lives in Norwich. She has a BA in English Literature with Creative Writing
from the University of East Anglia. Her influences include Jhumpa Lahiri, J.K.
Rowling, and Mindy Kaling.

Friday, 10 April 2015

Bel Greenwood, co-organiser of Words And Women, has been busy in her other role as Director of Chalk Circle Theatre Company, working on the company's current production Little Eden.

Little Eden is on at The Garage in Norwich next week from the 14th - 18th April, 7.30pm. Tickets are £10 and are available from the Theatre Royal box office, tel: 01603 630000.

Bel describes below how Little Eden was written:

"Most of the time, the act of writing a play is a solitary
act.We present the finished piece to a
director and they take it, present it to the actors and the process of bringing
the text to life begins.It is a
hierarchical system of creation which in the writing of Little Eden has been
turned on its head. Adina Levay, the director of Little Eden, is interested in
co-authoring and I found the idea of the writer living in the rehearsal room with the
actors exciting and also exposing.Normally, we don’t reveal our early drafts too soon – what I call a first
draft crafted in my cocoon is still a sketchy map and only a fairly safe revelation
after I have made a number of journeys over the pages.

Not so, in the writing of Little Eden. The play emerged from a
single theme ‘identity’ taken into the rehearsal room. Character, situation, ideas
and subtext emerged from the discussions of the entire creative team, the
writer as one part of this, and the improvisation of the actors. The writer, in
this process, witnesses walk-throughs, moments, characterization and is part of
the debate of the feeling-forward of the actors as they try out different
scenarios. Only then, from notes, would I write up a scene overnight, which
would then be taken back into the rehearsal room and tried out.The play was pieced together over 4
weeks.

I am not going to say it was all easy. For a start, you end
up leaving your ego at the door.That
particular, personal ownership of your characters, over their words, the
stringing of the puppet, is not your decision or task alone, although you have
the job of research, creating clarity and cohesion, the gluing together of all
the parts, the layering of meaning, the fitting of words.Initially, from one rehearsal to the next,
the motivations of the characters would change, a dark secret would emerge, and
the overnight scene would be redundant.There was a danger in second-guessing, and for a writer it was
exposing.These early scenes were
crude.There had to be a relationship of
trust.

As this process went on, I forgot the anxieties of ‘true’
first draft exposures.I could see that
that level of exposure was part of the actor’s every day experience. I could
see how everyone began to own the creation because we had all wrestled with the
process of putting it together. The
cooperative way of working had created a community out of everyone on the
project.

It is a dynamic and inclusive
way of writing and has produced an absurd musical play which I guarantee won’t
easily be forgotten.Come along, I
promise that you will never see Brussel sprouts in quite the same way again.'

Saturday, 4 April 2015

Isabelle King is Words
And Women’s Marketing Assistant. She also runs her own literary events’
organisation called Books Talk Back. Recently Isabelle held her fourth BTB event
which explored funding for writers with guest author Jamie Rhodes. Here is her account of the event:

'On
March 23rd 2015 at The Rose and Crown Pub, South Ealing, in a cosy,
intimate corner suitably named ‘The Library Space’ where shelves of books and,
indeed, garden gnomes reside, my latest addition of Books Talk Back took place.

The
fourth in my series, I was keen to maintain the same sense of individuality I
have strived to achieve throughout by giving the events a central focus,
specific to the career of the guest author involved. Norwich’s event with YA
writer Hayley Long, for example, was all about writing for the teen fiction
market, whereas Naomi Wood’s event at The British Library, following the
success of ‘Mrs Hemingway’, angled more towards literary fiction for adults.

Jamie
Rhodes’ first book 'Dead Men's
Teeth' was funded by Arts Council, backed by British Library, Spread The Word
and The Writers Guild. The book is a richly compelling, gothic short story
collection inspired by the objects in the British Library archives. Jamie
is a fantastic public speaker and
frequently gives talks on how aspiring authors can follow the right steps and
adapt their work relevantly to secure funding from arts organisations and
institutions with a view to gaining that most sought after and dreamy of
rarities in a writer’s life; time to write. Sigh. And so, Jamie’s presence
posed a brilliant opportunity for me to host an event which focused on funding
for fiction writers.

Oh, one slight problem-funding is a topic
which makes me want to curl up into a ball beneath my desk and start chewing on
the corners of my manuscript. All those forms, the references, the endless
paperwork and ticking all the right boxes, oh the boxes! How could I comfortably
discuss this for two hours?

But
Jamie’s warm, engaging manner which struck a perfect balance of focus and fun,
made the audience and participants, myself included, instantly relaxed and we
felt encouraged to ask questions from the word go. His anecdotally detailed
insight covered all aspects of finding funding, from the practicalities of
filling in Arts Council forms to the art of strategic tea drinking, all
delivered with wonderful warmth and humour. He also has an endearing
resemblance to Jon Snow from ‘Game of Thrones’ which, in its own way, proved a
relevant and helpful attribute.

Here’s a handful of Jamie’s funding tips which
I think will be useful for the purpose of this piece-

-If
applying for Grants for the Arts from Arts Council England, it’s a good idea to
apply for the Grants of 15,000 or under as opposed to over, as you have a
better shot of receiving funding from this category.

-Have
a clear and detailed plan of your project’s objectives and ensure you can prove
the deliverability of achievements and outcomes of the project.

-Jamie
approached MardiBooks with a view to publication on securing the funding.
MardiBooks are a high quality e-book publisher and provide an exciting new
publishing platform for new writers. In choosing MardiBooks, Jamie wanted to
show that he was engaging with the ever developing digital era. Think about
ways that you can adapt your application to engage with the moving times!

-Become
a member of the Writer’s Guild. Jamie received invaluable help from his mentor
at the Writer’s Guild. If you do not meet the membership criteria, you can
become a candidate member.Details are
on the website www.writersguild.org.uk

-When
having an interview with someone important, if offered, always accept a cup of
tea. It shows that you’re willing to engage. What’s more, don’t be afraid to be
specific about your tea. If you have two sugars, take two sugars! It shows that
you have good decision making skills and are not a push over!

It
was great to receive positive feedback about the event on social media and to
hear that that the audience and participants found the evening fun and
informative. Even the garden gnomes will testify that they had a fine time. I
look forward to reading their future literary works.